I feel as though I have been very blessed in the teachers that I have had throughout my life. From K to 8 and throughout 9-12th grade, I have had absolutely wonderful teachers. In my opinion, a good teacher is one that pushed you to your limits and then throws you over them thus forcing you to work harder than you ever had. They show you that you are smarter and can handle more than you thought. These are the kind of teachers that genuinely care about your success and are constantly pushing you to be as successful as you can be. I’ve had quite a few of these teachers, but a few stand out in particular. These are the teachers that would push me out into space without a helmet because they knew I could find a way to survive without one.
Lunch was the second to last class of the day that I had during my 8th grade year. For some reason, we would always get out late and thus, be using up time from the final period of the day. My last class of the day that year was probably the hardest class I have ever taken in my life. My teacher required so much work from us. It was kind of a wake up call to what I would be forced to deal with everyday in high school and college. One of the reasons that the class was so difficult was because we had an abbreviated period because of lunch running over. Instead of forty minutes to learn the rules of the English language, we had less than thirty. We had countless powerpoint slides to go through daily and my teacher wasted no time in going from one slide to the next. Hands flew across paper faster than I thought possible. You had to write down what was on the powerpoint, while listening to the teacher, while trying to process what exactly the future perfect progressive tense was. Every class was overwhelming, but you had to learn it, you had to master it because the first five minutes of the next class was a quiz on what you learned the previous day. When we would talk to kids from other classes they would talk about how easy they thought their Language Arts class was. We could only hope that we were in the easier classes. But, in the long run, I am very glad that I was in that class. More than that, I am thankful for the teacher who suffered through our constant inquiries as to why we needed to what the future perfect progressive tense was! This teacher, Mrs. Burd, is responsible for a large part of my academic success. She taught me almost everything that I know about the grammar and mechanics of the English language. Mrs. Burd taught me more than Language Arts, she taught me work ethics and time management. She taught me how to be a good and productive student. I owe much of my success to her.
That same year, my social studies teacher had to take a few weeks off a few times during the year. One of times that she was off we had a long term substitute named Mr. Bartle. Up until that point, social studies had been the same thing since about second grade. Mr. Bartle told us about history in a way that we had never been exposed to. He shared the stories of the people who were with General Washington as he crossed the Delaware. Mr. Bartle, though his time in the class was short, had the entire class entranced with the history of the United States. Up until that point, I had no interest in the history. From his time in the class, I gained a new appreciation for history. Suddenly, I was interested in learning more. His stories remain within me, and I even used one of his stories (which are factual) on the AP United States History exam. I really appreciate him taking the time to share a new perspective on history. His point of view introduced me into the importance of knowing about out nation’s past. I am very fortunate to have had him for only a few short weeks, because in that short amount of time, he changed my way of thinking for the better.
The final influence was my 8th grade literature teacher, Mrs. Leo. Even though I despised every novel we read in that class, and did not like most of the stories, she showed me that reading could be fun. Before, reading was just homework and busy work that we had to do to satisfy reading requirements. Through her, I began to appreciate the art that goes into every novel. I was introduced to the idea that reading was not solely for pleasure. Despite not liking the novels we read, I could appreciate the lesson that the author is teaching. One of the most memorable experiences form that class is when we read Lewis Carroll’s’ “The Jabberwocky” and she read each line as she waltzed around the classroom as we laughed and appreciated the made up words and the pure fun that Carroll put into the work. Because of this class, I was exposed to the beauty of literature. Had I not been in this class, I may not have learned to appreciate literature in the way that I do. Perhaps, I would not be choosing to study it had I not been in this class.
All three of these teachers have been very influential in exposing me to what I would eventually choose to study. Overall, I have been extremely blessed to have such amazing teachers who have actually cared about showing me another side of what I was studying. They helped me to realize that studies were not just about what I got on a test- they were about what I was going to remember after the test, past the grades, beyond the classroom and into the real world.
I feel as though I have been very blessed in the teachers that I have had throughout my life. From K to 8 and throughout 9-12th grade, I have had absolutely wonderful teachers. In my opinion, a good teacher is one that pushed you to your limits and then throws you over them thus forcing you to work harder than you ever had. They show you that you are smarter and can handle more than you thought. These are the kind of teachers that genuinely care about your success and are constantly pushing you to be as successful as you can be. I’ve had quite a few of these teachers, but a few stand out in particular. These are the teachers that would push me out into space without a helmet because they knew I could find a way to survive without one.
Lunch was the second to last class of the day that I had during my 8th grade year. For some reason, we would always get out late and thus, be using up time from the final period of the day. My last class of the day that year was probably the hardest class I have ever taken in my life. My teacher required so much work from us. It was kind of a wake up call to what I would be forced to deal with everyday in high school and college. One of the reasons that the class was so difficult was because we had an abbreviated period because of lunch running over. Instead of forty minutes to learn the rules of the English language, we had less than thirty. We had countless powerpoint slides to go through daily and my teacher wasted no time in going from one slide to the next. Hands flew across paper faster than I thought possible. You had to write down what was on the powerpoint, while listening to the teacher, while trying to process what exactly the future perfect progressive tense was. Every class was overwhelming, but you had to learn it, you had to master it because the first five minutes of the next class was a quiz on what you learned the previous day. When we would talk to kids from other classes they would talk about how easy they thought their Language Arts class was. We could only hope that we were in the easier classes. But, in the long run, I am very glad that I was in that class. More than that, I am thankful for the teacher who suffered through our constant inquiries as to why we needed to what the future perfect progressive tense was! This teacher, Mrs. Burd, is responsible for a large part of my academic success. She taught me almost everything that I know about the grammar and mechanics of the English language. Mrs. Burd taught me more than Language Arts, she taught me work ethics and time management. She taught me how to be a good and productive student. I owe much of my success to her.
That same year, my social studies teacher had to take a few weeks off a few times during the year. One of times that she was off we had a long term substitute named Mr. Bartle. Up until that point, social studies had been the same thing since about second grade. Mr. Bartle told us about history in a way that we had never been exposed to. He shared the stories of the people who were with General Washington as he crossed the Delaware. Mr. Bartle, though his time in the class was short, had the entire class entranced with the history of the United States. Up until that point, I had no interest in the history. From his time in the class, I gained a new appreciation for history. Suddenly, I was interested in learning more. His stories remain within me, and I even used one of his stories (which are factual) on the AP United States History exam. I really appreciate him taking the time to share a new perspective on history. His point of view introduced me into the importance of knowing about out nation’s past. I am very fortunate to have had him for only a few short weeks, because in that short amount of time, he changed my way of thinking for the better.
The final influence was my 8th grade literature teacher, Mrs. Leo. Even though I despised every novel we read in that class, and did not like most of the stories, she showed me that reading could be fun. Before, reading was just homework and busy work that we had to do to satisfy reading requirements. Through her, I began to appreciate the art that goes into every novel. I was introduced to the idea that reading was not solely for pleasure. Despite not liking the novels we read, I could appreciate the lesson that the author is teaching. One of the most memorable experiences form that class is when we read Lewis Carroll’s’ “The Jabberwocky” and she read each line as she waltzed around the classroom as we laughed and appreciated the made up words and the pure fun that Carroll put into the work. Because of this class, I was exposed to the beauty of literature. Had I not been in this class, I may not have learned to appreciate literature in the way that I do. Perhaps, I would not be choosing to study it had I not been in this class.
All three of these teachers have been very influential in exposing me to what I would eventually choose to study. Overall, I have been extremely blessed to have such amazing teachers who have actually cared about showing me another side of what I was studying. They helped me to realize that studies were not just about what I got on a test- they were about what I was going to remember after the test, past the grades, beyond the classroom and into the real world.